


T-Shirt Therapy

by fallenangel218



Category: The A-Team (TV)
Genre: Angst, Friendship, Gen, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-19
Updated: 2014-10-14
Packaged: 2018-02-18 01:08:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2329688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fallenangel218/pseuds/fallenangel218
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Every time Murdock has a violent nightmare, one of the team buys him a new T-shirt. It seems to work wonders.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Joyful Heart is Good Medicine

**Author's Note:**

> A series of short pieces.

They were somewhere between Bakersfield and Las Vegas when B.A. pulled the van over, and hid them away for the night. It had been a long, hard case, and they all needed some rest. Unfortunately, B.A.'s van was going to serve as their hotel room for the evening. 

Hannibal snored, the back of his seat tilted back a bit. B.A. slept with his head against his window, using his coat for a pillow. He was out like a light. 

Face was curled up in his seat, a blanket pulled over his thin frame. His seat was tilted as far back as it could go, as was Murdock's. 

Murdock, however, was the only one not sleeping soundly. His body would twitch under the blanket once in a while, but it wasn't enough to startle any of his friends from sleep. The twitching soon evolved into convulsing and groaning. The noise aroused Face, who turned over and went back to sleep when he realized it was Murdock. 

An hour later, a piercing scream filled the van. Face flew into a sitting position, and Hannibal was awake and turned around. Murdock was hiding under his blanket. 

"Leave me alone! Get away from me!" he screamed. 

B.A. sat up and turned around. 

"What's that fool doin' now?" he said tiredly. Hannibal gave him a warning glare, and he shut his mouth. 

Face tried first to break through to his friend. 

"Murdock," he said loudly. "It's Face, your buddy." 

"You're lying!" 

Murdock threw the blanket off of himself. He was holding onto one of B.A.'s hunting knives. 

"I thought you locked those in the glove compartment, B.A.," Hannibal said. 

"Fool must have found one in the back." 

Face held up his hands, to show Murdock he wasn't armed. 

"Murdock, calm down." 

"Stay away! Leave me alone!" 

He sliced through the air with the knife. Face scrambled backward against the van door. 

"Hannibal..." 

"Captain!" Hannibal said authoritatively. 

Murdock's demeanor suddenly changed. 

"Captain H.M. Murdock, U.S. Army, reporting, Sir!" 

"Drop the knife, Captain!" 

"No sir! C-Charlie is attacking!" 

"Charlie is long gone, Captain. Drop the knife. Now!" 

Murdock lunged forward, and Hannibal caught his wrist and wrenched it. The knife fell out of Murdock's hand, and B.A. quickly snatched it up and locked it in the glove compartment with the other one. 

"Murdock," Hannibal said, in his regular tone of voice. "Son, come back to us." 

Murdock was on his knees, almost in between the driver and passenger seat of the van. Tears were streaming down his face. Hannibal let go of his wrist.

"I'm so sorry," he said as he started to sob. 

Face slowly moved forward and put his arm around Murdock's shoulders. 

"It's okay, buddy," he said softly. "We're all here, and you're safe, okay? Charlie isn't here. It's just you, and me, and Hannibal and B.A." 

"Really? Truly?" 

"Yes, really and truly. Come on, let's all get some sleep, okay?" 

"I'll try. Where's Billy?" 

Face patted the air where he imagined the invisible dog would be sleeping, had there been an actual dog in the van. 

"He's right here." 

Murdock turned to B.A. with a childlike look upon his face. 

"Can Billy sleep on the seat with me?" 

B.A. nodded. 

"Sure. I don't want to find no hair on my seats tomorrow, Fool." 

"Thanks, Big Guy! Come on, Billy!" Murdock said, patting his lap. 

Sometimes, Billy was a lap dog, and sometimes, he was a big guard dog. Tonight, everyone was glad he was a lap dog. 

**~*~*~*~*~*~**

_The next day..._

They drove the rest of the way to Los Angeles and were back at one of Face's scammed Condos in time for dinner. Murdock had been quiet most of the trip. He'd clung to Billy for most of the drive. They'd never seen their friend so introverted after a nightmare. 

Hannibal went out to get something for dinner. He came back an hour later with four fast food bags, and a shopping bag. 

"You been shoppin' Hannibal?" B.A. asked, taking the fast food bags from him.

"Got a little something for Murdock," he said, smiling. 

"For me?" 

Hannibal handed him the shopping bag. Murdock shoved his hand into it and came out with a brand new T-shirt, with an inspirational quote on it. 

_A joyful heart is good medicine. Laughter heals._

"This is great, Colonel. Thank you!" 

"You're welcome." Hannibal smiled at his Captain, and clapped him on the back. "Come on, let's eat before B.A. gets too grumpy, shall we?" 

Murdock held his shirt tightly as they joined Face and B.A., and dove into a fast food dinner. 

He did not have a nightmare that night.

**END**


	2. Heal the Past, Live the Present, Dream the Future.

The team had completed another successful job. Face had the money secured in a hidden bank account, it was nearing midnight, and the Team was ready to get a good night's sleep. 

B.A. found a random motel off the highway, and they hid the van. Face conned them the biggest room available, and they ordered a pizza and kicked back. 

"You know," Face said, taking a bite of the pepperoni and mushroom pizza "I really think we could have gotten paid more for that job. I mean, the expenses I went through... the helicopter, three semi-trucks, and all of the necessary equipment... I really think we got shortchanged." 

"That client was happy to be rid of us after we saved his ass from those developers, so let's just deal with what he gave us, and count our lucky stars that he didn't call Decker on us," Hannibal retorted before taking a second slice of pizza. 

"You made me fly," B.A. complained. "You lucky I don't pound you into the ground for getting me on that chopper!" 

"Calm down, B.A.," Hannibal said, putting an arm across B.A.'s chest, to keep him from getting up and pummeling Face. 

A moan from the bedroom silenced all three of them. Murdock had been sleeping, and up until now, he'd been quiet. 

"I hope that's not the start of--" 

"Don't even think it, Face," Hannibal said. "I'll go check on him." 

Hannibal went into the bedroom and found Murdock on his side, facing the wall. He was lying still. Hannibal kept his distance from the bed, just in case. 

"Murdock? Are you all right?" 

"Xin hãy đừng làm tổn thương tôi!" _(Please! Don't hurt me!)_

Hannibal wasn't surprised at the Vietnamese that came from his Captain's mouth. He'd had nightmares in the past that included Vietnamese shouting. 

"Không có nhiều hơn nữa! Dừng lại!" _(No more! Stop!)_

Hannibal moved to the left side of the bed. 

"Captain Murdock!" he tried in his militant voice. Murdock thrashed around in his bed, obviously oblivious to Hannibal's attempt. 

"để tôi yên! xin vui lòng, tôi cầu xin bạn …" _(Leave me alone! Please, I beg you...)_

There was one more tactic Hannibal had left to try. He climbed up onto the bed with Murdock, and put his hands on the Captain's shoulders. Murdock thrashed against Hannibal, but the Colonel kept his grip strong on his man. 

"Không ai làm tổn thương bạn ... bạn đang ở Mỹ hiện nay." _(No one is going to hurt you... you are in America now)_

Murdock thrashed a few more times, and then stilled. 

"I don’t wanna die, Momma." 

Hannibal furrowed his brow. This was a new one.

_Maybe one of my voices?_

"You'll be all right, H.M. Momma is here. You are safe." 

"Thanks, Momma. Can I go to sleep now?" 

"Of course, darling. Pleasant dreams." 

Murdock's body went limp, and he fell back to sleep. 

Hannibal slowly slipped off the bed, and backed out of the room. He shut the door, and turned to face B.A and Face, who looked worried. 

"He'll be Ok now." 

They nodded their understanding, and continued to eat dinner in silence. 

~*~*~*~*~*~ 

_the next morning..._

Murdock trudged into the main room tiredly the next morning. Face was the only one there. He was sitting at the table, reading a newspaper and drinking coffee. 

"Morning," Murdock said, sitting across from his friend. 

Face lowered his newspaper. 

"How are you doing?" Face asked with a note of worry in his voice. 

"I'm fine--why would I be--oh." He looked at his hands, and back up at Face. "Did I do it again?" 

Face nodded. 

"I'm sorry." 

"It's not your fault, buddy. You didn't do anything to deserve those nightmares. Don't you forget that." 

"Thanks, Faceman." 

"Anytime." 

The door to the room opened, and Hannibal came through with fast food bags that smelled like breakfast. Hanging on his right hand was a plastic shopping bag. 

"Good to see you're awake, Captain." He set the food down on the table, and handed the shopping bag to Murdock. "I picked up something for you." 

Murdock excitedly took the bag and dove into it like a kid on Christmas morning. He came out with a new T-shirt. it was black, and had white writing on the front. 

**Heal the Past, Live the Present, Dream the Future**

"Thanks, Hannibal. This is great. I'm going to wear it today!" 

"I'm glad you like it, Murdock. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm dying to dive into that breakfast before B.A. gets out of the shower." 

"Right, Colonel." 

Hannibal passed out breakfast sandwiches as Murdock rushed into the bedroom and came out wearing his new shirt. 

**END**


	3. Leave Bullying to the Bulls.

Face climbed the trellis to Murdock's window. It was the middle of the night, and he hadn't time to think up a con to get into the hospital at this hour to bust him out. God knows why Hannibal needed them at this ungodly hour, but rather than argue, he piled into the 'Vette and drove off to bust out Murdock, yet again. 

He arrived at Murdock's ledge, and balanced himself while he took out his lock pick kit to unlock the window. His eyes fell on his sleeping friend as he worked the old window lock. He was thrashing about. 

_Great... he's having another nightmare._

Finally, Face heard the lock pop, and he slid the window open. he climbed in, and went to Murdock's side. He reached to shake him awake, but stopped his hand in mid-air when Murdock started to talk. 

"Leave me alone! I didn't do anything to you, Sergeant! Nonono stop! Let me go! Put me down!" He kicked under the sheets and flailed his arms. "Don't! Don't throw me in the water! I can't swim, damn it! What are you doing! No!" 

Face watched his friend flail as if he were trying to surface in a body of water. When had all this happened? Certainly not in Vietnam... there weren't too many bodies of water where they were dropped. Maybe in basic? He'd have to ask Murdock about it later. Right now, it was time to wake him from his nightmare. 

"Murdock," he said, shaking his friend's shoulder. "Murdock, it's Face, wake up, buddy. " 

Murdock jumped up, nearly knocking Face down, and started running for the door. Face caught him and put a hand over his mouth to keep him from screaming. 

"Hey, it's just, me! Face, remember? If you run out there, the nurses will spot me for sure, and we're going to wake up the entire hospital when the alarm goes off. Do you want that?" 

Murdock shook his head. 

"Calm down, buddy. You're safe. You're not going to drown. Not on my watch. Okay?" 

Nod. 

Face let him go, slowly. 

"Are you all right?" 

"I think so, Muchacho. How much of that did you hear?" 

"Enough to know someone played a dirty trick on you." 

Murdock sat on the end of the bed and started to pull on his jeans. 

"It was at Fort Bragg, before I shipped out to 'Nam. This jerk of a Serge thought it would be funny to push me around because I was so scrawny. One night, he came back to base drunk with a couple of buddies. I was on late duty, working at the gate." 

Murdock stood up and pulled up his jeans, buttoning them. He went looking for a T-shirt as he continued his story. 

"There was a swimming pool on base, for drills. He and his friends decided to throw me in the deep end. I was screaming, trying to stay above water. He and his friends just stood there and laughed, like it was a big joke." 

"What happened to the Serge?" 

"It so happened that Colonel Franklin had just returned to base as well, and saw them drag me off. When he saw them throw me in the water, he came running. He jumped in and got me out. I--I probably would have died if he hadn't seen them." 

"I’m glad those jerks got what was coming to them. You've been carrying that around with you all this time?" 

"It's hard to forget almost getting killed by your own men." 

"Good point." 

Murdock finally found a clean T-shirt, and slipped it on. 

"Ready to go, Muchacho." 

"Great, let's get the hell out of here, shall we?" 

They climbed out the window and down the trellis just as the alarms were sounding. 

**~*~*~*~*~*~**

Face volunteered to go on the breakfast run the next morning. On his way to the diner to pick up their order, he spotted a shop with an entire shelf of T-shirts. He diverted his path and went inside. He went to the section with all of the inspirational T-shirts. There was one that caught his eye, and he picked it up. 

"Perfect." 

He paid for the shirt and continued to the diner. 

\----- 

When he arrived back at the cabin Hannibal had scammed them, Murdock was up, but moping in the living room. Face handed Hannibal the bag of takeout, and went into the living room. 

"Hey buddy," he said, sitting down next to Murdock on the couch. "I picked up a little something for ya in town." 

"For me?" 

"Yep. Here ya go. You deserve it." 

Murdock excitedly took the bag and opened it. 

"A new shirt!" 

He yanked the shirt out of the bag and opened it. The shirt was a camo print, with white writing. As he read the writing on it, his eyes welled up. 

**Leave Bullying to the Bulls. Become a Human.**

"Thanks, Face. This means a lot to me." 

"You're welcome. You ready to eat breakfast now?" 

"Did you get my blueberry pancakes like I wanted?" 

"Blueberry pancakes with blueberry syrup and lots of butter." 

"Yes! I'm starving!" He practically leapt over the couch and headed into the kitchen. 

Face smiled and followed him. Murdock was back to his usual self. 

"Hey, fool! Watch it with that syrup!" 

Yep, definitely back to normal. 

**END**


End file.
